Kiss Today Goodbye
by Asher J
Summary: Oneshot. Joyce's thoughts on her son Will's wedding day.


_**KISS TODAY GOODBYE**_

A/N: I do not own _Stranger Things_ or the characters. They are solely the property of the Duffer Brothers, Netflix, and their associates.

"If you find someone you love in your life,

then hang on to that love."

—DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES

1961-1997

"Don't cry over the past, it's gone.

Don't cry over the future, it hasn't arrived.

Live in the present and make it beautiful."

—ANONYMOUS

_** T**_he fountain pen almost slipped out of my hand as I finished signing the guest book. Thankfully, I was able to catch it before it landed on the freshly-mowed grass and hand it to the man that was standing behind me, but it still wasn't exactly one of my proudest moments. After all, I was the mother of the groom, and I expected to be completely and totally composed and in control. However, as indicated by my near-faux pas, I could tell that I was the farthest thing from it. I hadn't felt so out of it since the day I left my hometown of Hawkins, Indiana.

Oh, you're probably wondering what I'm talking about, right? Well, for starters, today was my son's wedding day.

Will's wedding day.

Will had come such a long way since he was a kid. It seemed like only yesterday that he, Mike, Dustin and Lucas were in the Wheelers' basement playing one of many games of Dungeons & Dragons. Granted, I knew virtually nothing about the game myself, and I sure as hell had no idea what he was going on about whenever he would rush home and tell me all about it, but I didn't care. My Will was always a creative, kind, sensitive boy, and unfortunately, that made him a favorite target of the bullies at his school. It always made my blood boil to see him being treated so horribly, and it didn't take a genius to know that Jonathan, my other son, wanted nothing more than to find one of those little shits and straighten him out. Lonnie, my ex-husband and the boys' father (and I use the term loosely), always told Will to just suck it up and not let it get to him so much, but he had no idea what it was like. He didn't have the slightest clue how it felt to be ostracized just for being different.

Now that I look back on those days, it was a large part of the reason why we divorced in the first place. That, and also because he was an asshole.

I can't even begin to tell you how glad I was that Will had the friends he did have back then, especially Mike. If there was anyone in Hawkins that I could always count on to have Will's back, he was the one. And Will couldn't have made a better choice for a best man at his wedding.

"Joyce?" I heard a voice call. I turned to my right, and there, standing by the rosebushes, was Jane. Having spent a good chunk of her childhood as a human guinea pig in that horrible science lab, she was formerly known as Eleven, or El, as the boys nicknamed her. When I first knew her, she was a frightened, lonely girl who needed someone to protect her, love her, and show her the kindness that she deserved and so desperately needed. Fate has a mysterious way of sending you who and what you need when you really need it, and it was definitely on our side when the boys disobeyed Hop's direct order not to get involved in the search for Will. I guess you could say they accidentally did us the biggest favor of our lives when they went out in the pouring rain to find their friend.

"Hi, Jane," I smiled. She looked so radiant. Her pale indigo full-length dress fit like a glove, and it matched her eye shadow perfectly. Her greenish-brown eyes, once filled with paranoia and fear, shone happily. The sunlight accentuated her golden-brown hair and made the top of her head look like she had a halo, and it also made the diamond-encrusted engagement ring on her left hand sparkle like a million stars. "How are you, sweetheart?"

"Oh, I'm hanging in there," Jane admitted. "To be honest with you, though, I'm a nervous wreck. And it's not even my wedding. I mean, I've seen weddings on TV a million times, but I never thought I'd actually _be_ in one."

"You'll do fine," I reassured her. "Will and Dana love you and Mike like crazy, and they obviously wanted you guys to be in their wedding."

Wait, you're probably wondering who Dana is, aren't you? Well, she's Dana Wong. She and Will met during their freshman year at the University of Illinois, where she was majoring in physics, and he in art history. A lot of people don't believe in love at first sight, but that's exactly what happened when they met. I still remember the first time he brought her home to introduce her to us. She was amazing: funny, sweet, down-to-earth, and extremely smart. And best of all, she and Will had so much in common. No, she was never kidnapped and held prisoner in an alternate dimension by some horrible mind-controlling monster, but she did know how it felt to be bullied and rejected. To say that they were a perfect match is a huge understatement.

Okay, back to Jane and me. "Thanks," she grinned, and we shared a loving hug. "Well, I better take my place now."

"And I gotta go find my seat," I remembered. "See you later."

"You, too."

I made my way to the country club's front lawn and sat down in the fourth row, about two seats away from the aisle. As I watched the guests filing in and take their seats, I found myself thinking back to everything we'd been through in Hawkins: the day Will went missing, getting him back, the battles with the Demogorgons, finding out about the secret Russian base under the now-defunct Starcourt Mall, and closing the gate in order to save the world as we knew it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that we'd ever go through such an ordeal, and I honestly never want to experience anything like that again. The worst part about it was the fact that I'd watched not one, but two people I cared so deeply about sacrificing their lives to save everybody else. I'll never forget seeing those beasts kill Bob in the lobby of that damn lab, or the last time I saw Hop before I turned the keys that would destroy that infernal machine that was reopening the gate to let God knows how many more of them invade our world. I still can't believe it happened, and I'll always wonder for the rest of my life if there was something I could've done differently to save either of those good men.

But by the same token, I know that that's an unhealthy way to think. There's nothing we can do about the past, other than learn from it. And believe me, I'd done a helluva lot more than my share of learning since then.

Just then, all the guests turned their attention toward the end of the aisle. I wasn't about to let anyone know what I was feeling, so I did my best to put aside my grief for the time being.

The first person I saw was Bobbi, Jonathan and Nancy's little girl, and my darling granddaughter. She smiled that million-dollar smile of hers as she spread the lily petals across the spotlessly white carpet. This child was clearly the spitting image of Jonathan, and if Bob were alive today, I know for a fact that he'd be truly honored that they named their precious angel after him.

Lucas and Max (short for Maxine) were next. They were always good kids, and such characters, too: both risk-takers, outspoken, and fiercely protective of the ones they cared about. They also had a tendency to butt heads over the silliest things, but deep down, they still loved each other.

As I watched Mike and Jane follow them and take their respective places at the altar, I couldn't help feeling a little disheartened knowing that someone from their circle of friends was missing: Dustin. He wanted so badly to be able to be there, and we all knew he felt terrible that he couldn't. The reason was because he was over a thousand miles away in Utah with Suzie, his adorably cute and _very_ pregnant wife. And yes, this is the same Suzie with whom Dustin sang the theme song to _The Neverending Story_ while getting Planck's constant, the equation we needed to open the vault that contained the keys to the gate. A few days later, she would give birth to their son, and they would ask Steve to be his godfather.

Oh, and just for the record, they did _not_ name the kid Artax.

I turned my head toward the altar, and there, on the right, with Mike and Lucas by his side, was Will. They looked so tall and handsome in their tuxes, complete with immacualte white shirts, bow times and cummerbunds—red for Will, white for Lucas, and black for Mike. The only thing that made me force myself not to laugh was Will's shoes. Instead of the black patent-leather dress shoes that Mike and Lucas were wearing, he had on his signature white Nikes with red and blue trim. When they went to get fitted for their tuxes, Will said the shoes they had him try on really hurt his feet, so he chose not to wear them. It didn't make any difference, though. This was his day.

"You got this, honey," I silently mouthed. I know my boy, and I can always tell when he was nervous, which he obviously was.

"Thanks, Mom," he responded.

That's when the wedding march started to play. Everyone rose from their seats and turned toward the end of the aisle. And that's when we saw her: Dana. Will's beautiful Dana. She was wearing a gleaming-red traditional Chinese wedding dress with black and gold trim (Qing dynasty, according to her parents), gold hoop earrings, and a shiny gold headdress. Her jet-black hair was pulled back in a bun, her make-up was perfect, and the red and black hand-woven bracelet on her right wrist was the ideal finishing touch. She approached her father, who was in full military uniform, took his arm, and they started down the aisle.

As they got closer to where Jonathan, Nancy and I were standing, I couldn't help but notice the look on her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her bottom lip was trembling like crazy, but she was determined not to cry. After all, it would be a real shame to ruin such an impressive make-up job.

Well, folks, Dana managed to hold it together, as did her mother, who was in the front row. Me, not so much. The dam finally burst, and I started sobbing quietly. I couldn't help it. Dana looked so stunning, and my son was marrying the love of his life. After all those horrible times we'd had, he was finally getting his day in the sun.

He earned it.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned, and Nancy was handing me her handkerchief. She was always such a nice girl, and I felt so lucky to have her for a daughter-in-law.

"Thanks," I whispered through my tears. After I wiped my eyes, all the guests sat back down, Dana's father gaveth this woman, and the ceremony was officially underway. I glanced up toward the cloudless, brilliantly blue sky, and thought of Bob and Hop, the two men who made the ultimate sacrifice to save our kids, our town, everybody. None of this would've been possible were it not for them, and as much as I still missed them and always would, an overwhelming surge of gratitude came over me.

_Thanks you so much, you guys,_ I thought. _I know you're up there watching over us, and as long as you're in our hearts and our memories, we'll be okay. Take care of yourselves, and each other, and we'll see you again someday._

_**THE END **_


End file.
